|
First of all , i wrote such a blog some time ago but since then many things have happened and i would also like to write everything in far greater detail.
I am writing this blog not to brag about my results , i am in fact seeking aid and guidance because i am somewhat stuck at my current position.
Also bare in mind that English is not my native language so be prepared for errors in my writings.
I need to go all the way back to my youth , from 1-5 i was pretty much a thin person but than for some reason i just put on loads of weight, I don't remember much anymore but its for sure because of eating to much food and not moving enough. From 8 to 14 years on i was very overweight and being fat at that age is no fun thing when you have class mates making jokes of you and calling you names.
Well , at the age of 15 everything changed. I was not even planning to lose weight. What happened was that i start hiking , A LOT . I been on top of about 10 different mountains several times that were all above 2500m. Each having a 3-5 walking distance to the top. I believe that was a major factor in the result in losing weight , i also didn't eat so much because i remember having those black outs a few times due to lack of food. (i don't remember anymore if it was intentional to eat less or not but i know it was stupid nevertheless).
And another major thing was that i grew a lot , so my BMI changed a lot.
After that i thought i would never be fat again and i don't have to worry about it anymore..boy was i wrong.Just 1 year and a half later i was up to 100kg which is 25kg to much for me.And i was not able to lose it until last year (21years old now), this summer (2011).The reason i didn't lose weight earlier was because i didn't know how...I know that at one point i just decided to drink only water (which is a good change) and eat only 2 meals a day (which is incredible stupid to do) , of course it did not work, my body went into starvation mode and held on to all the possible fat i had.I been doing this for like 2 months , it was insane.The hunger i was getting in the evenings drove me insane.
I mean if you look at the BASIC logic.
Don't eat = lose weight
Eat a lot = gain weight
That was pretty much how i saw losing weight back than.
It took me a while to realise that i have to eat 6 small meals a day in order to give my body constant supply of energy and letting it know that i don't need the fat i have on my body anymore due to such a constant supply of food.
So after gaining this knowledge i decided to eat ONLY fruit and vegetables and fish (i did this for 2 days). 6 small meals every day, It worked a bit , i lost 4kg i believe. (that was in late 2010 before new years eve).
But something was still missing...i was getting frustrated but i didn't give up so i started doing long walks through my forest (i live in a village) Friends often gave me company and actually i have great memories from all those walks.The reason i was doing those walks was to get me ready for running. So after 2 months of walking i decided to start running down hill. Every day i walked up hill for 20min and than ran down the hill for 5min. It was much easier for me to run downhill than on flat ground.
Another thing i forgot to mention , after i started doing those walks i stopped eating only fruit and veggies and fish , Went back to eating normally but i was always careful not to overeat..anyway when i started running downhill i started eating 6 meals a day again.
After 2-3 weeks of doing that...i gave up. No clue why so don't ask me , i just did but one day , 2 weeks after i stopped , i decided to run on the flat surface to the next village (2km) and i almost made it to there. After that i was amazed that i was able to run so far without having breathing problems and coughs.I was motivated again and so i began running every day , from here on it went only uphill or downhill for my weight.
Every day i wanted to run further , to the village , to the chapel , to the church , to the next village , to the hill top and again to the next village and all the way to the next town which was 10km. After that i got bored and decided to run in the other direction which i did the same thing untill i hit 10km.
One day in that period i decided to hop on the scale and i was shocked (before i started doing the fruit , veggies , fish diet only i had 107kg than i dropped down to 103kg and now when i was on the scale it showed me 96kg. It was a huge change and people also told me that i look different.
Than i started checking the scale every day in the morning (which can drive you mad believe me) hop on the scale only 1 time in the week is what i recommend to you now because seeing yourself gain 2kg (which is only water) can get you depressed quickly when you don't know what it is.
So i went down to 90kg , i believe that was close to August and in August i started to run only 5km a day but as fast as i can (took me around 22min to do those 5km).The thing i didn't know back than was that if you push yourself as much as you can for 20min , which i did in those runs sometimes , your body sends out growth hormones over night which prevent you from gaining weight and improving your body so you can do your next cardio workout , faster , better , stronger.
But i didn't know that and i only now can explain why i didn't gain weight ,one day in August where i ate about 4L of ice cream in one evening and didn't gain weight at all.It was because of those intense runs i had which released growth hormones and prevented me from gaining weight ( of course i might be wrong because i would not write this now if i was 100% sure, but that's my theory now anyway).
In mid August i decided to run twice 5km every day , same direction, It was fun to run at the side of the road at night 22:00 and having that flash light strapped around your head. And the running track i took lead me to a point where i saw a church on a hilltop which is surrounded by lights in the night , a wonderful sight.
But back to the main point , In end of August i was down to 85kg and after that i could not lose weight anymore, I tried several things like eating EXACTLY 500 calories less than what my metabolism consumed but that didn't work of course but i was AGAIN , lacking the knowledge.
What i didn't know was that our metabolism adapts quickly. So it lowered down to the amount i was eating.
For example i calculated that my metabolism is 2500 calories according to some formula so i decided to eat 2000 calories but my metabolism sooner or later saw that it didn't need to burn 2500 so it lowered itself down to 2000 so in the end i wasnt losing anything , i was just staying the same. I believe people call this a plateau?
So since August forward , what was i doing? i continued to run for another 2 months until it got to cold for me to be arsed to go out and do it anymore so i decided to stop and i was lifting weights as well , 3x a week. And i kept on trying to eat the right amount of calories to lose weight , which didn't work.
Than one day i came upon a website which was telling me about the ZIG-ZAG diet.
Where you always change your calorie intake so your metabolism cant adapt to it.
Example would be
2 days 1800 calories
3 days 2500 calories
But i will gain weight in the 3 high days? i asked myself and i continued to read on the site telling me something about i mentioned earlier in my post here. If i do intense cardio every day it will prevent me from gaining weight.
It seemed logical to me to try it and i was not going anywhere with my current diet either. I started doing 20-30min very intense cardio workouts , where you in the end cant be bothered to do anything for another 2 hours. And eating low calorie days / high calorie days.
Another thing that was on the site was that i should eat mostly protein on the low days if i wanted to lose actual fat. Its then when i finally understood something new , carbs are the main supply of energy and if you cut that out you will lose weight fat and muscle as well , am i right?
So on low days it told me to eat a carb meals in the morning and mostly protein during the rest of the day.
I been doing this for about ummm . 1 month now and i honestly cant tell any difference in my body , i took pictures of myself and showed them to other people and they said there is a difference but i still have my doubts.
However i can tell you that i feel different on the low days than on the high . On the low days i am much hungrier and i feel much weaker when on the high days i feel full of energy and capable of doing plenty of work.
Right now i am still at 85 , i might of gained something but that is mostly muscle i believe since i can see that difference very clear in the mirror , However my main goal is to lose fat and drop down to 10% body fat. Its causing me much frustration. Still having doubts if this works , if i am doing something wrong or if i am still missing something.
I am not going to give up because if i do that i will go back to being fat and i don't want that. For some people who never had trouble with weight this might seem obsessive, but this is my current life goal , To get healthier and look better. I see no other more important thing in my head right now (besides work and school).
Another thing i can say is that when i started doing those intense cardio workouts i was very much out of breath and much more tired than i am now when i am done with one. So by my logic , it tells me that my body is improving? (losing fat , gaining muscle?)
I would like all the feed back you can give me , even the negative ones because that's important to me as well.
I am right now here at my pc eating my 2nd low meal of the day (fish) and writing this in hopes for some wise words , like i said at the start this is not bragging , this is a cry out for help!
Of course this might not be the place to write this , but its the only place where i feel comfortable posting this and we all share something in common as well , Starcraft <3.
If you managed to read through this wall of text than i thank you!
Just thought of adding a picture where it shows what the difference is from 2010 and now.
![[image loading]](http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/8886/progress1.jpg)
|
|
|
First, niiice job. Second, go talk to the fitness guys, they're smarter than me.
Third, I think you're overthinking everything. Here's some probably dumb advice but it works: I lost 40kg this year, from 120 to 79kg, which I am right now and still losing weight. If you diet and exercise, you'll lose weight. So if you're not losing weight, and your nutrition is good, you either need to eat less or exercise more.
I'd hit the gym five days a week for a couple months, run/powerwalk for 40 mins, eat smaller portions and minimize carbs, you'll be done in no time. Unless you're interested in strength/athleticism, in which case, fitness thread. They're smart.
|
On January 24 2012 23:02 KT s0ng wrote:
First, niiice job. Second, go talk to the fitness guys, they're smarter than me.
Third, I think you're overthinking everything. Here's some probably dumb advice but it works: I lost 40kg this year, from 120 to 79kg, which I am right now and still losing weight. If you diet and exercise, you'll lose weight. So if you're not losing weight, and your nutrition is good, you either need to eat less or exercise more.
I'd hit the gym five days a week for a couple months, run/powerwalk for 40 mins, eat smaller portions and minimize carbs, you'll be done in no time. Unless you're interested in strength/athleticism, in which case, fitness thread. They're smart.
Yes , its possible that i am overthinking it , but the reason i do that is because i fail and than try to see what i did wrong and i keep researching more and more. One thing that caught my eye upon what you wrote was that i should eat less carbs. I think that's pretty true because only 2 days ago i really understood what kind of role carbs play.And now that i think about it , i been eating mostly carbs when i was not on the low days. If i understand it right protein should be the highest amount to eat and carbs the lowest and fat just somewhere in the middle.
|
Definitely check out the TLHF portion of the site, everyone is welcoming and supportive and there to answer questions. Posting there is also good motivation to know that you need to report your results to people. Anyways on to answer your question.
1) To start off I think you need a more specific goal. If your goal is to lose weight I think you should have a specific goal weight to weigh at by the end of the year. Additionally, add in some short term goals that help you get to the end goal, typically make it every 2-3 months to have short term goals to keep you on track and motivated and able to easily track progress.
2) Tracking your progress, tracking everything. It seems like you are on the right track. But overall its really helpful to track everything workout wise, how much did you run, how far/fast etc. as well as a daily diet log. What did you eat, how much, total calories etc.
3) Try something different. The definition of insanity is to keep trying the same thing and expecting different results. If you are in a plateau. Add in something new or try something new entirely. I as well as most people you are going to talk to in the TLHF subforum would recommend start strength training. Start with a 3 day a week beginners program which covers all the most important movements that hit the whole body (squat, deadlift, bench). Such programs such as stronglifts or starting strength. Google them. If you really enjoy running keep it in there too! But the strength training will help burn calories, increase your metabolism, and change your body composition to something more desirable by your standards.
Just my 2 cents hope it was helpful.
|
But back to the main point , In end of August i was down to 85kg and after that i could not lose weight anymore, I tried several things like eating EXACTLY 500 calories less than what my metabolism consumed but that didn't work of course but i was AGAIN , lacking the knowledge.
What i didn't know was that our metabolism adapts quickly. So it lowered down to the amount i was eating.
For example i calculated that my metabolism is 2500 calories according to some formula so i decided to eat 2000 calories but my metabolism sooner or later saw that it didn't need to burn 2500 so it lowered itself down to 2000 so in the end i wasnt losing anything , i was just staying the same. I believe people call this a plateau?
So since August forward , what was i doing? i continued to run for another 2 months until it got to cold for me to be arsed to go out and do it anymore so i decided to stop and i was lifting weights as well , 3x a week. And i kept on trying to eat the right amount of calories to lose weight , which didn't work.
First off, the metabolism doesn't really adapt like your saying it does, and the degree to which it adapts is small, NOT several hundred or more kcal/day. The exception might be if you really starve yourself for 4,5+ days. I'm talking really starving, like eating 500 calories a day while running 70mpw type stuff.
Counting calories I think can be a great way to lose weight. As a bit of a numbers freak I liked knowing exactly how fast I should be losing weight and calorie counting helped make me positive I was not overeating as well. The thing is calorie counting is difficult. Most people, until they really make an effort to get good at estimating portion sizes and stuff. It's extremely easy to be off be 100, 300, or even 500+ calories on a given day. Moreover, you don't know how many calories YOUR personal metabolism burns. One 5'9" 150 pound male could need 2,100 kcal sitting around all day and another 5'9" 150 male might need only 1,500 if he sits around all day. The only way to find out how much food you need per day to lose weight is to experiment with it and find the calorie level that results in the desired rate of weight loss.
Than one day i came upon a website which was telling me about the ZIG-ZAG diet.
Where you always change your calorie intake so your metabolism cant adapt to it.
Example would be
2 days 1800 calories
3 days 2500 calories
But i will gain weight in the 3 high days? i asked myself and i continued to read on the site telling me something about i mentioned earlier in my post here. If i do intense cardio every day it will prevent me from gaining weight.
Whether you eat 1,800/2,500 on alternating days or 2,150 everyday makes minimal, if any, difference. Weight loss is about calories in vs calories out. Their are many ways to skin this cat but as long as you are maintaining a caloric deficit you will lose weight. End of story.
If your not losing weight you are eating more than you think you are or not burning as much as you assume you are.
Adding intense running EVERY day is generally a very bad idea. If your running really low mileage (less than 30 miles/50km per week) it can work for a little while but even then it's a serious invitation to injury.
It seemed logical to me to try it and i was not going anywhere with my current diet either.
Weight loss is almost entirely about diet. Exercising during weight loss just allows you to eat a little more and more importantly allows you to develop a much healthier body composition as you lose weight.
Again, if your not going anywhere with your weight loss you are eating too many calories.
I started doing 20-30min very intense cardio workouts , where you in the end cant be bothered to do anything for another 2 hours. And eating low calorie days / high calorie days.
Another thing that was on the site was that i should eat mostly protein on the low days if i wanted to lose actual fat. Its then when i finally understood something new , carbs are the main supply of energy and if you cut that out you will lose weight fat and muscle as well , am i right?
So on low days it told me to eat a carb meals in the morning and mostly protein during the rest of the day.
No, I don't think you need to eat only protein or even mostly protein is you want to lose fat. It does help if you do strength training while losing weight though as it helps at the very least to give the body a stimulus to keep muscle over fat, as generally the first thing the body generally starts breaking down during weight loss is lean mass. By adding strength training your providing a stimulus to the body saying "hey, we need muscle". At the very least it will help maintain the muscle you have and as a new lifter it's even possible to make gains in muscle while losing weight.
However i can tell you that i feel different on the low days than on the high . On the low days i am much hungrier and i feel much weaker when on the high days i feel full of energy and capable of doing plenty of work.
No surprise.
Right now i am still at 85 , i might of gained something but that is mostly muscle i believe since i can see that difference very clear in the mirror , However my main goal is to lose fat and drop down to 10% body fat. Its causing me much frustration. Still having doubts if this works , if i am doing something wrong or if i am still missing something.
It's all about calories in vs calories out. That is what determines weight loss. If weight loss your goal and you aren't losing weight then you are eating too much.
Since your goal seems to get to a leaner body weight and look/feel/be healthier I'd strongly encourage you to add some strength training to what you are doing. Cardio is great, and lord knows I am a huge advocate of running (I usually run 100-130 km/week), but when it comes to weight loss and body composition strength training is MASSIVELY beneficial. More so than running. You CAN lose weight with pure running, but it's generally harder and doesn't result in as "classically good looking" of a body as what you get from strength training not to mention some strength work will make you a more well rounded, overall fit, type person.
Another thing i can say is that when i started doing those intense cardio workouts i was very much out of breath and much more tired than i am now when i am done with one. So by my logic , it tells me that my body is improving? (losing fat , gaining muscle?)
No. This has NOTHING do do with gaining muscle. You don't really gain much, if any, muscle from running. These changes are noticed because your anaerobic system is getting stronger. Your body is metabolically now more prepared for the demands of high level running. Additionally your running economy and comfort with faster paces has increased so you are much more comfortable, relaxed, and efficient running at these faster paces.
|
This is a very heart warming open post.
Usually if your on a plan, it plateaus at some point and you need to amp up your methods.
GL man!
|
Calgary25954 Posts
I'm jealous of your running story, it sounds so cool to just go outside and see how far you can run and then try to beat it the next time. 
Good read!
|
United States22883 Posts
My only advice is to not push yourself too hard mentally. Once you lose it, it feels like you can never go back but if you break yourself down too far, you get too focused on week by week results and you lose track of the rest of your personal life. You might just snap and say "fuck it, it's not worth it" and undo all the great work you've done.
|
First of all , thank you very much L_Master for putting effort in writing all of this! First thing yes the metabolism does not adapt that quickly , i been told it takes about 3-4 days until it fully adapts when you doing something different and i probably used the word "quickly" to strongly.
So if i understand this right, i should abandon the zig-zag diet and just go back to eating the right amount of calories in order to lose weight? Saying my metabolism is 2300 and eat 1800 for example , right?And i know that i will lose weight by doing that but wont i hit a plateau sooner and later and not be able to lose weight anymore because my metabolism dropped down?
I believe i forgot to mention , that i am lifting weights and been doing so for about 3 months now since November.
I did gain muscle but i don't believe i lost any fat which is my main goal here so i believe i am just eating to much?
|
On January 25 2012 03:40 Knap4life wrote:
First of all , thank you very much L_Master for putting effort in writing all of this! First thing yes the metabolism does not adapt that quickly , i been told it takes about 3-4 days until it fully adapts when you doing something different and i probably used the word "quickly" to strongly.
So if i understand this right, i should abandon the zig-zag diet and just go back to eating the right amount of calories in order to lose weight? Saying my metabolism is 2300 and eat 1800 for example , right?And i know that i will lose weight by doing that but wont i hit a plateau sooner and later and not be able to lose weight anymore because my metabolism dropped down?
I believe i forgot to mention , that i am lifting weights and been doing so for about 3 months now since November.
I did gain muscle but i don't believe i lost any fat which is my main goal here so i believe i am just eating to much?
If your lifts are going up with proper technique and your staying the same weight it means your gaining muscle weight and losing fat weight. Which is lowering your body fat % which is probably what you care about the most. Hard to tell progress by weight alone some people are classified obese by there weight when they're really just have a lot of muscles.
|
Yeah , now that you mention it , i am able to lift heavier weights now than i was a month ago so that's one way of knowing that i gained muscle weight?And yeah i agree , probably the best way to know if your overweight or not is to see how much body fat % you have which is another problem i have , i have no clue what % mine is.
|
It might be time to get a scale or other measuring device that measures % body fat and/or start taking measures of ass, chest, thighs and so on. Weight is a very rough way of tracking fitness. It's good when you have a lot of weight to lose, but not so great when you approach goal weight and start adding muscle.
|
Thanks for sharing such a detailed story. Ups and downs (literally), but overall, I get the impression that you're on the right track. I'm not an expert on this topic, but I do follow a simple rule that everyone seems to know: build bigger muscles with less reps heavier weights, build leaner muscles with more reps lighter weights.
|
On January 25 2012 04:35 Cuddle wrote:
It might be time to get a scale or other measuring device that measures % body fat and/or start taking measures of ass, chest, thighs and so on. Weight is a very rough way of tracking fitness. It's good when you have a lot of weight to lose, but not so great when you approach goal weight and start adding muscle.
Yeah i agree . i need some kind of device that measures fat % , but i am not sure what or which. And i been taking some measurements around my waist but it doesn't seem to accurate to me when i do it lol. I always thing that i measure it at the wrong place than the last time and that i hold it to tight and so on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT![[image loading]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/progress1.jpg/)
